Now it’s your turn…

I wanna wash this year right outta my hair…

The way that this year is ending, don’t you think that it’s time to get it out of all the “nooks and crannies” of your life?

One possible way is to cleanse and clear the energies of your home.

In this fairly long post, I will explain how to do just that.

So, let’s start.

Everything is composed of constantly changing energy.

You aren’t separate from the world and energy around you.  What’s an example of this? Have you ever stepped into a room ‘charged’ from an argument? You feel it. So – while certainly more subtle – if you step into a room full of comforting and joyful things, you will get a similar energetic ‘charge.’

The energy that is invested in ‘things’ is powerful and important, and we can also train our brains to look for support by the way in which we order our world using techniques such as feng shui.

There are a few different types of feng shui – the type I have studied is often called “black hat” feng shui. However, all types of feng shui are based upon the belief that every geographic area is made up of 9 quadrants, called the “bagua.”  Simply placing the “bagua” map on the area you are considering, you have regions in that room (or desk, or building) that correspond to parts of your life. I did a couple of in-depth podcasts about this…you can find them HERE and HERE. I also did an episode on ABC-TV on this subject – they used to have it up on their website, but it’s down now. I need to find the DVD with my copy, to post it here!

Anyway . . . so . . . if you really want the past year out of your life . . . I’d strongly suggest that you consider clearing its energy from your home, office, purse, car, etc.

These places are comprised of millions of overlapping energy fields.  For example, let’s take a chair in your living room. That chair has residual energy from the raw materials that made that chair (e.g., the “energy” of a California oak will be different than that of an English oak). It has energy from the craftspeople who worked on that chair. Energy from former owners (do you have a dresser in your bedroom from an ex-mother-in-law who hated you? Why is that in your house?). Last but not least, that chair has your own residual energy from sitting in it.  This doesn’t even consider the energy of the sun coming into your home, the energy of the home itself and its builders, the energy from your family, the energy from your pets, or the residual energy from interactions that have taken place in your home.

This is why, in my books Fempowerment and the Fempowerment Playbook, there are entire chapters dedicated to cleaning and cleansing.

What I said above about your chair – or your home – would also apply to your office, your purse, and the like. Because “You” are not separate from them. If you want to “neutralize” your surroundings to have a clean template for next year, you need to remember that these areas are not just an extension of your thoughts, intentions and feelings plus the energy of their furnishings and surroundings; in a larger, energetic sense, they are You.

“You” are no less your home than you are your body.  Both are outer manifestations of your inner energy fields and Spirit – which is the true You. 

In the deepest sense, your home reflects and mirrors your consciousness.  Just as your body is “symbolic” of your inner state, your home also reflects that state.  Therefore, as you can imagine, you can shift personal energy by shifting energy in your home.  For example, windows are your eyes to the world around you. Just the simple act of cleaning your windows, with the Intent of being able to “see your way” in life more clearly, will effect that clarity.

Which gets us to the point of all this. How do you do it?

This clearing can take place in your office, your purse, your car, your house – your “wherever.” Let’s just presume that this will take place in your house.

The four steps are:  (1) preparation, (2) purification, (3) invocation and (4) preservation.  

Once completed, the area that you clear can be “neutralized” from energy carried forward from the past. It can become a peaceful oasis for you, but almost more importantly, it can attract and radiate what you would like in your life out into the world, becoming a beacon that will in turn direct more of that to you.

So, let’s get started!

PREPARATION

Where Intention goes, energy flows.  So – to begin – you need to understand what your Intention is for this clearing. That’s right – no need to change into your coveralls just yet, ‘cos we’re starting in your head!

If your overall conscious and subconscious Intentions are aligned and are to instill an uplifting energy in the home for the betterment of the occupants and mankind – so it will be.  If your overall Intention is to contribute to the vibrant health and well-being of the home’s occupants and thereby raise the energy of mankind – so it will be.  Do you want to create an environment in which you can undertake the creative work you dream of?  Or to create a warm social center where friends and family can gather to share hopes, laughter and tears? Take the time to clarify, define clearly, and write down your Intent.

This is an essential step.  This is similar to preparing the soil before you seed the ground.  Your Intention will be instilled in your home at the time of the clearing, even if you are not constantly thinking about it.

Take some time, and write your Intention down – focus on what you want to draw in, not so much on what you want to usher out.

Our mind can’t “hear negatives.”

That’s why, if you are walking down the red carpet, you tell yourself “Walk Tall,” not “Don’t Trip”!

So – positives!

What specific results do you want for yourself and the other occupants of the home?  After you have clarified your overall Intention, decide what immediate and specific results you want.  For example, if your overall Intention is to generate a loving, creative energy in the home, a specific Intention might be to shift energy in the home so that you can write poetry easily and creatively.  This specific goal could be further broken down into specific objectives.  For example, you might decide that you need to create a beautiful work space separate from the normal living spaces of the rest of your home in which to do your writing.  Or if your overall Intention is to create a social center for friends and family, then you might want to consider what specific elements your heart tells you will help bring that Intention into being.  Is it a kitchen with a big oak table to sit around in a light-filled room, where you prepare meals with friends?  Or everyone gathered together with glasses of wine and take-out, watching movies and enjoying a crackling fire?  Think of your overall Intention as an aerial picture, and your specific intentions as focusing on your street, your house, the rooms inside, the furniture inside, the books and flowers on the tables, and so on.  What “supports” your Intention?

Start at the 10,000 foot level, and dive down into what this Intention will mean to you – See it. Smell it. Taste it. What in your house supports that – and what needs to move on to its next best use? I guarantee that something that’s energetically dead to you will be cherished by another.

As a wise person once said, “You need to empty your glass of beer to get the champagne in there – but pour the beer into your friend’s glass that only holds water now, so they can pour the water to someone who is parched!”

Think about the immediate, but also the long term, results of your Intention. Remember, as energy is always flowing, this clearing and arranging will not be a “one-time deal.”  In fact, perhaps one of your intentions could be to clear, purify, and re-set the energy of your house to align with your Intention every Friday evening after a wonderful bath. Schedule it. Block the time in. This will keep your energy and Intention focused and current.

When you consider long-term results, you want to consider results that will help to “concrete-ize” your Intention.

For example, if your Overall Intention is a life that is abundant and prosperous, your specific intentions might be a financial increase at work, or getting rid of objects in the house that make you feel poor (a bookshelf made of concrete blocks and a plank, for example). Or a specific intention that supports that prosperous Intention might be living out a specific dream that will take money (like a luxury safari to Africa).  The long-term result you desire could be a continuing and growing feeling of expansiveness; of always knowing that you have enough for all your needs to be met.

Or, if your Overall Intention is to have a home that contributes to the spiritual development of all occupants, your specific intentions might be the creation of a beautiful meditation room area and an altar in your home, focusing on colors and objects in the home that elicit a spiritual or uplifting feeling, and daily private meditation times becoming part of your normal routine.  The long-term result might be that all members of the household have an increased sense of connection to their spiritual source, and all members feel more physically and spiritually vital and energetic.

We are incredibly fortunate to have had master hypnotherapist Susan Bird do a three-episode deep induction for cleaning and clearing out your past and bringing forth you best life ever. They are searchable in the podcast section, but to make it easy, the first of these can be found HERE.

Take some time, and explore your overall intention, your specific intentions, and the long-term result you are bringing into your life.

Now it’s time to get your hands dirty.

Touch everything – open everything – yes I said EVERYTHING.

You need to have your house prepared, if you are serious about flushing all of the energy through and out of it. As I mentioned above, the entire first chapter of my book Fempowerment deals with cleaning and clearing out, as does the first chapter of the Fempowerment Playbook. If you have either of these books, you can refer to them. You can also search back in this blog (search term “clearing”) for podcasts and blog posts full of details.

In general, you must have completely organized and cleared everything in your environment.

All drawers and closets, and any items with residual “energy” that do not resonate for you in the present (e.g., wedding dresses under the bed, dead plants, “fat clothes” and the like) must be dealt with.  If you’re serious about not dragging last year and before into the upcoming year, you must make these steps in the same seriousness.

It is important to remember that all things in our homes are given importance because of the energy that we have tied to them.  You may have items in your home that were given to you and you don’t feel you “can give up” (or else you will “insult” the giver); you might have furniture that was given to you by an aunt who you hate but it is “good” furniture and you therefore don’t want to part with it.

It is important to remember that the Universe can only fill your glass with new and beautiful gifts if there is room in the glass. 

By the (sometimes difficult!) parting with personal items that do not resonate 100% with your Intention, you are giving the Universe the ability to replace these items with items that are 100% resonant.  This leap of faith is critical if you are to lead a 100% energized and non-dissonant life. Remember the champagne -> beer -> water -> thirsty example above!

You should also endeavor to accomplish a full housecleaning.

This includes windows; pulling out appliances and cleaning behind them; etc.  Yup, everything. For example, your refrigerator needs to support your Intention. Are there half-filled condiment bottles in there and ice-encrusted mystery packages in the freezer? It’s all gotta go. If you’re not willing to pull the fridge out, from an energetic level, it represents that there are parts of your life that you’re not “willing to” go to the effort to put right. I know. I know. It’s a huge pain. But the idea is to ensure that there are no lurking “bug-a-boos” that could come back to haunt you!

By the way – if you’re doing this all in one day, go ahead and leave your drawers and closets open (they do not need to be “wide open,” just a crack is enough), because you will purify each area, inside and out. Once the drawers and closets are purified and filled with your intention, they can be closed.

House all clean? Great! Next, you need to prepare yourself.

Take a long shower. Use a salt or sugar “scrub” (easily available at Trader Joe’s, etc., but be sure that it is organic and pure – no chemicals or additives!) Scrub all areas of the body, including between your toes and fingers.  Remember – you’re leaving behind everything to enter this new year clean and clear.

Next, choose loose clothing that has a good energetic “feel” to you.  It is important that you prepare yourself in the same manner you will be preparing your house.  Do not wear jewelry (it gives off energy that can interfere with you feeling the energy in your house). Go barefoot, as it is easier to feel the energies of your house without shoes.

Finally, do a short “warm up” session to loosen your joints and your lymphatic system. The point is to get energy flowing through you and to unlock any blocked areas, so that joy and radiance can enter you and exude from all your cells, from head to toe. Breathe deeply. If you do yoga, perhaps you might do a few sun salutations.

PURIFICATION

Before you being to instill new energy into your home, it’s important to cleanse the overall space.  Invoking energy into a home before the home is cleared is like picking a beautiful bunch of flowers but then putting it in a vase filled with stagnant water from a previous bouquet.  The reason why rooms need to be cleansed is because the energy becomes stagnant and this stagnation affects the health and well-being of the occupants.  Energy particularly becomes stagnant in the corners of a room, because energy travels in circular, spiral movements which cut off the corners.  It also becomes stagnant if illness or negative emotions have been experienced in a room.

Choose a method that you will use for this purification.

Often, a rattle or a bell is used to break up and move stagnant energy. Does this speak to you? What about sage smoke? Candles? Your voice/singing? Opera music on your cell phone that you can energetically “hold and direct” into the corners of the room? (Yup, you guessed it – that’s mine. My favorite is HERE.)

Hold your Intention in your mind, and feel your home.  What does your home feel like to you in your mind?  What will “move” or “break up” the energies that are stagnant in that home?

Stand in the middle of the room, and take a few deep breaths.

If you are so moved, offer prayers to the Great Is, your guardian spirit, or the like for the help to clear this room. Then, circle the room, using the method you chose to break up and circulate the energy. Imagine it moving out of all areas – drawers, closets, under furniture, you name it. Usher this energy out of the room through an open window or door. If you close your eyes and use your imagination, you can utilize your hands to feel out any “sticky” areas of energy. Imagine using the sage smoke, or bell, or music to “un-stick” this old energy and invite it out the window.

 

INVOCATION

After your house is cleared of stagnant energies, it’s time to fill it with radiant, crystal-clear energy, and consecrate it to your Intention.

It is essential that you “call” or invoke energy into your home after it has been cleared.  Not doing so would be like cleaning a flower vase but never putting fresh flowers into it.  You can call the energy in with the same tools that you used in the previous work, but with a different intention. You now are calling, instead of clearing, energy.  For example, you can use a bell to break up stagnant energy, and later use the same bell to invoke energy and Spirit.  A drum can be a powerful device to dispel stagnant energy, and then to invoke a healing energy in the home.  Consider here what methods might speak to you in calling the energy of your Intention to your home.  You are calling upon guardians in the realm of Spirit to come forth, bringing in energy of healing and love. Clearing and calling may use different methods: Perhaps sage smoke to clear, and then a drum to call?

I personally like to work with essential-oil scented, pure beeswax candles (scent, light, fire and color).

Once my home is cleared, I light a candle in the center bagua area of the home, and then bring candles into each room and dedicate that room with light and candles to the Spirit.  I light each candle from the central candle, so that the entire house is lit from the central Intention invoked with the session.

PRESERVATION

When each room is completed, the energy is “sealed” in by using a separate tool. 

A standard method of accomplishing this is to use salt. You cast it lightly in a circle around the entire perimeter of the room, to “seal in” the energy of your Intention and “seal out” energy that is dissonant, stale, or negative.  Other methods include sprinkling pure water around the perimeter, or beating a drum or wafting sage with an eagle feather all around the perimeter of the room. Your method will be specific to you, but should leave you with a feeling that the area is now completely safe and sealed away from the energies that you dispelled previously.

Finally, you will “set” your Intention.

One example of a way to “set” the Intention is to write down clearly on a piece of paper what the overall Intention is, and then fold the paper and place it in the soil of a new houseplant, near the roots.  Each time you water this plant, you re-affirm your intention.  It is important to note that if the plant dies, this does not say something about your Intention – but you should pay attention!  Plants absorb energy from a house, but also are a bellwether for your actions with respect to your Intention.  Did it die because you paid “too much attention to it” (overwatering, etc.)?  Stop trying so hard – let the Universe do its work.  Don’t push.  Did it die because you neglected it?  Perhaps you are not putting enough daily attention toward your Intention.

I know – it sounds like a lot!

But dozens and dozens of people seem to feel that “life as we know it” is coming to an end this year! As such, this post outlines some very concrete ways that you can make your home a harbinger of wonderful things to come for you and yours in this new year. Stop cowering in fear – get out your journal, get on your coveralls, apply some elbow grease, and sweep out the old and lock in the new!

May your new year be healthy, happy and bright.